Category: Twins Minor League Player of the Week

Twins minor league players of the week – Jose Miranda & Prelander Berroa

The Twins have named A+ Ft. Myers Miracle infielder José Miranda and GCL Twins right-handed pitcher Prelander Berroa as Twins minor league Player and Pitcher of the Week.

Jose Miranda

The 20-year-old Jose Miranda played seven games for the Miracle, hitting .320 (8-for-25) with two doubles, one home run, four RBI and a .414 on-base percentage. Miranda plays primarily second and third base but has played some shortstop. Miranda was selected by the Twins 73rd overall in the 2016 First-Year Player Draft and signed for a reported $775,000. Bats and throws right-handed. Miranda also was the Twins player of the week back in June when he was with Cedar Rapids.

Prelander Berroa

 

 

 

Prelander Berroa, an 18-year-old Dominican right-hander made one start for the for the GCL Twins on Thursday vs. GCL Orioles, pitching 5.0 shutout innings with one hit allowed and nine strikeouts. Berroa has not allowed an earned run in his last three starts, games he which he pitched 5,4 and 5 innings. Berroa was signed as a 16-year-old undrafted free agent in July of 2016 for a reported $200,000 and started pitching in the Twins minor league system in 2017.

Twins Minor League Report 081818

Shortstop Royce Lewis and outfielder Alex Kirilloff were named to the 2018 Midwest League Postseason All-Star Team. Outfielder Ernie De La Trinidad who came over from Arizona in the Eduardo Escobar trade and is now playing with the Ft. Myers Miracle also made the same All-Star team.

Twins minor league players of the week – Royce Lewis & Edwar Colina

The Twins have named A+ Ft. Myers Miracle shortstop Royce Lewis and A- Cedar Rapids Kernels right-handed pitcher Edwar Colina as Twins minor league Player of the Week and Pitcher of the Week.

Royce Lewis – Credit Tom Hagerty MiLB.COM

Lewis, who was selected first overall in the 2017 MLB Draft, played seven games for the Miracle, hitting .345 (10-for-29) with a triple, two home runs, six RBI, five walks and a .457 on-base percentage. In 101 games this year between Cedar Rapids (75) and Ft. Myers (26) the 19-year old right-handed hitting shortstop is hitting .318 with an OPS .867 and has 12 home runs and 71 RBI not to mention 28 stolen bases.

Edwar Colina

Colina,21, started one game for the Kernels on Monday vs. Beloit, pitching 8.0 innings with two unearned runs, no walks and eight strikeouts, earning his sixth win of the season. For the year the 5’11” left-hander is 6-3 with just 64 hits allowed in 84.2 inning with 75 KO’s and 45 walks. The Caracas, Venezuela native was signed by the Twins as a free agent in September of 2015.

Twins minor league players of the week – Ryan Jeffers & Jhoan Duran

The Twins have named A- Cedar Rapids Kernels catcher Ryan Jeffers and A- Cedar Rapids Kernels right-handed pitcher Jhoan Duran as Twins minor league Player and Pitcher of the Week.

Ryan Jeffers

Ryan Jeffers, 21, played in seven games for the Kernels, hitting .423 (11-for-26) with five doubles, two home runs, six RBI and a .500 on-base percentage. Jeffers was selected by the Twins in the second round of the 2018 First-Year Player Draft out of UNC Wilmington and signed for a below slot $800,000. Jeffers started the season by playing for just over a month in 29 games with Elizabethton where he hit 3 home runs and had 16 RBI with a .458 OBP. Since his promotion to Cedar Rapids on July 24 he has played in 11 games and has 2 home runs and 9 RBI and is hitting .366. Mike Berardino recently wrote Second-rounder Ryan Jeffers laying quick claim to Twins’ ‘catcher of the future’, a good read.

Jhoan Duran

Jhoan Duran, 20, made the start on Monday at Quad Cities, pitching 7.0 shutout/no-hit innings with one walk and eight strikeouts in his first appearance in the Twins system. The 6’5″ and 175 pound Duran was acquired last week from Arizona in exchange for infielder Eduardo Escobar and is ranked as the Twins 23rd best prospect. The right-handed Duran from the Dominican Republic started in the Arizona system at the age of 17 is already in his fourth season of pro ball and won’t be 21 until January.

 

Twins Minor League Report 080518

 

 

Twins minor league players of the week – Donny Breek and Brent Rooker

The Twins have named GCL Twins right-handed pitcher Donny Breek and Double-A Chattanooga outfielder Brent Rooker as Twins minor league Pitcher and Player of the Week.

Donny Breek

Breek, 18, made two starts for the GCL Twins, going 1-0, 0.00 ERA (9.0 IP) with three hits allowed, four walks and 13 strikeouts. The Amsterdam native was signed to a seven-year deal by the Twins as a free agent last September.

Donny Breek signs with Twins

Brent Rooker

Rooker, who is winning this award for the third time this season (May 20 and June 10), hit .467 (14-for-30) with four doubles, three home runs, nine RBI, six walks and a .556 on-base percentage in seven games for the Lookouts. The 23-year old is putting together a solid season at Chattanooga and in 99 games is hitting .275 with a .862 OPS with 20 home runs and 66 RBI. He has struck out 120 times. Rooker was selected by the Twins 35th overall in the 2017 First-Year Player Draft out of Mississippi State University.

Twins minor league players of the week – Alex Kirilloff & Kohl Stewart

The Twins have named High-A Ft. Myers Miracle outfielder Alex Kirilloff and AAA Rochester Red Wings right-handed pitcher Kohl Stewart minor league Player and Pitcher of the Week.

Alex Kirilloff

Kirilloff, the Twins 2016 first round pick (15th overall) who was in last week’s SiriusXM Future’s Game, played in five games for the Miracle, hitting .545 (12-for-22) with three doubles, one triple, one home run and six RBI. Kirilloff who won’t turn 21 until this November started the season in Cedar Rapids but after hitting .333 with 13 home runs and 56 RBI in 65 games was moved up to Ft. Myers and he has found the Florida State League to his liking. In 29 games he is hitting .370 with 3 home runs and 22 RBI in just 29 games. I would not be surprised to see him get a taste of AA ball at Chattanooga before the 2018 season winds down. A pretty impressive season for Kirilloff after sitting out all of 2017.

Kohl Stewart

Stewart, another first round pick and fourth overall in 2013 made two starts for the Red Wings, going 0-2, 1.50 ERA (12.0 IP, 2 ER) with four walks and 10 strikeouts. Stewart has been a bit of a disappointment so far in the sense that everyone expected more out of this right-hander since he was the fourth overall selection but we need to keep in mind that he is just 23 years of age. Stewart turned down a football and baseball scholarship at Texas A&M University to sign with the Twins.

The minor league report below has an article on the Twins experimenting with “Bullpenning”.

Twins Minor League Report 072318

Twins minor league players of the week – Zander Wiel & Bailey Ober

The Twins have named AA Chattanooga Lookouts outfielder/first baseman Zander Wiel and Low-A Cedar Rapids Kernels right-handed pitcher Bailey Ober minor league Player and Pitcher of the Week.

Zander Wiel

Zander Wiel played in seven games for the Lookouts, hitting .333 (8-for-24) with one double, two triples, one home run, three RBI, five walks and a .448 OBP. Wiel is in his fourth season of pro ball and has jumped up a league each season. Although he has not shown the power this year as he has in the past, he is hitting .306 which is way above his career average of .264. 

Wiel rolls on with Lookouts 

Bailey Ober

We don’t get many back-to-back winners but this week we have one. Bailey Ober, who also won this award last week, made one start for the Kernels, coming on Thursday (which was his 23rd birthday) vs. Ft. Wayne, pitching 6.2 shutout innings with five hits allowed, one walk and 10 strikeouts. 

 

 Twins Minor League Report 071518.pdf

There is a story in the Twins minor league report about Royce Lewis getting promoted to Ft. Myers.

Twins minor league players of the week – LaMonte Wade & Bailey Ober

The Twins have named AAA Rochester Red Wings outfielder LaMonte Wade and Low-A Cedar Rapids Kernels right-handed pitcher Bailey Ober minor league Player and Pitcher of the Week.

LaMonte Wade

Wade played in six games for the Red Wings, hitting .391 (9-for-23) with two triples, two home runs, four RBI, two walks and a .440 on-base percentage. Wade started the season in Chattanooga where he hit .298 with 7 home runs, 27 RBI and 5 stolen bases in 171 PA’s. I should also note that he had 26 walks as compared to 20 strikeouts, a rare plus now days. So far in Rochester Wade is hitting .261 with 3 homers and 11 RBI in 109 PA’s and his walks still outnumber his KO’s. The 24-year old Wade is in his fourth season of pro ball and was a ninth round selection by the Twins in the 2015 June draft from the University of Maryland.  

Bailey Ober

Ober made one start for the Kernels, coming on Thursday vs. Wisconsin, allowing one run on three hits in 7.0 innings pitched with no walks and 12 strikeouts, earning the win. The soon to be (July 12) 24-year old right-handed Ober has spent all season in Cedar Rapids and has a 5-1 record with a 4.87 era in 11 starts. The 6’8″ 215 pound Ober has 64 strikeouts in 57.1 innings but he has also given up 60 hits. The Twins 12th round selection in 2017 from the College of Charleston already has a Tommy John surgery on his resume that caused him to miss the 2015 season while in Charleston.

 

Sean Miller

MLB announced on July 7 that  third baseman Sean Miller of the Minnesota Twins has been suspended for 50 games under baseball’s minor league drug program following second positive tests for drugs of abuse. Miller 23, was a 10th-round draft pick in 2015 and is on the roster of Chattanooga of the Double-A Southern League, where he is hitting .220
with one homer and eight RBIs in 150 at-bats. He started the season at Double-A, and batted .091 with one RBI in 10 games with Triple-A Rochester of the Triple-A International League, then was sent back down in late May.

 

Twins Minor League Report 070818

Twins minor league players of the week – Caleb Hamilton & Bryan Sammons

The Twins have named High-A Ft. Myers Miracle infielder Caleb Hamilton and Low-A Cedar Rapids Kernels left-handed pitcher Bryan Sammons minor league Player and Pitcher of the Week.

Caleb Hamilton

The 23-year-old Hamilton played in four games for the Miracle, hitting .462 (6-for-13) with two doubles, three home runs, eight RBI and five runs scored. Hamilton was the Twins 23rd round pick out of Oregon State University in 2016 and was selected as a shortstop. The Twins turned Hamilton into a catcher in 2017 and that is now his primary position although you can also find him at third base and first base. Last year he caught, pitched an inning and played every position but center and right field. In 185 career games Hamilton has a .211 batting average.

Bryan Sammons

The 6’4″ lefty Sammons made one start for the Kernels on Monday against Beloit, pitching 8.0 shutout innings with five hits allowed, one walk and five strikeouts. The 23-year-old Sammons attended Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, North Carolina.  In 12 starts this season Sammons is 4-4 with a 2.69 ERA and has allowed just 56 hits in 67 innings while striking out 58 batters. Sammons gave up 5 earned runs in his first start of the season but has given up 3 or less in every star since. Sammons was an eighth round Twins selection in 2017 and signed for a reported $10,000. Looks like the Twins might have gotten a bargain here.

 

Twins Minor League Report 063018

Twins minor league players of the week – Luis Arraez & Lewis Thorpe

The Twins have named High-A Ft. Myers infielder Luis Arraez and AA Chattanooga
left-handed pitcher Lewis Thorpe minor league Player and Pitcher of the Week.

Luis Arraez

The 21-year-old Arraez played five games for the Miracle, hitting .542 (13-for-24) with one double, one home run, four RBI and had a five-hit game on Friday at Bradenton. For the season he is hitting .307 with a .359 OBP and has played primarily at second but has also put in time at third and shortstop. In his five seasons of pro ball Arraez has never hit below .300 and has a .332 career average. Arraez was out most of 2017 with a torn ACL. Arraez was signed by the Twins as an undrafted free agent in 2013 from San Felipe, Venezuela.

Lewis Thorpe

Thorpe made the start on Thursday vs. Biloxi, pitching 7.0 shutout innings with one hit allowed, one walk and 12 strikeouts. Thorpe was signed as an undrafted free agent in 2012 out of Melbourne, Australia. Here is what FanGraphs has to say about Thorpe :

Thorpe had real prospect status following the 2014 season, when he turned in a solid 71.2 innings in Low-A at age 18. He then missed all of the 2015 and 2016 seasons with Tommy John surgery and mono during his rehab from the surgery. He returned last year and mostly picked up where he left off, reaching Double-A at age 21, which is where he was assigned to start 2018. His stuff has always been around average, but it was a little above before and now it’s more fringy with a good slider.

 

Twins Minor League Report 062418.pdf

Twins minor league players of the week – Robby Rinn and Jordan Balazovic

The Twins have named Single-A Cedar Rapids first baseman Robby Rinn and Single-A Cedar Rapids right-handed pitcher Jordan Balazovic as Twins minor league Player and Pitcher of the Week.

Robby Rinn

In four games for the Kernels, Robby Rinn hit .556 (10-for-18) with two doubles, one home run, three RBI and scored five runs. Rinn, now 25 was drafted by Kansas City in the 25th round of the 2016 First-Year Player Draft and was acquired via trade this past May in exchange for cash.

Jordan Balazovic

Jordan Balazovic, 19,  who was recently assigned to Cedar Rapids made one start for the week, coming Monday at Wisconsin, allowing one run on three hits in 7.0 innings pitched and 11 strikeouts. The 6’4″ Oakville, Ontario native is a right-hander and was drafted by the Twins in the fifth round of the 2016 First-Year Player Draft and signed for a reported $515,000. Twins Daily did a nice piece on Balazovic that is worth checking out.

 

Twins Minor League Report 061718.pdf